Having another card at all beyond a series 400 card is a waste as the card itself is powerful enough to handle both and wont bog anything down.

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Thanks for the input, I know this is probably not the right thread to discuss this, and there really aren't that many games that take advantage of PhysX, but for the ones that do, it certainly helps to have a dedicated card to take away the burden from your rendering cards, check this article for reference.

Anyways, I'm probably more concerned about the thermal implications of keeping a third card in my case than about performance gains from pure PhysX acceleration, when I went 3-way SLI with my current cards, the top card's temp went up by about 2 to 3 degrees.

Thanks for the input, I know this is probably not the right thread to discuss this, and there really aren't that many games that take advantage of PhysX, but for the ones that do, it certainly helps to have a dedicated card to take away the burden from your rendering cards, check this article for reference.

Anyways, I'm probably more concerned about the thermal implications of keeping a third card in my case than about performance gains from pure PhysX acceleration, when I went 3-way SLI with my current cards, the top card's temp went up by about 2 to 3 degrees.

Thank you for your opinion

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And every single one of those cards that are in those charts dont have the ability to do Physx themselves while the series 400 cards on up do. So that article is invalid.

Strange, looks like you got that case standing upside down there Norton!

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it's the crazy Intel BTX form factor works well if there is some form of separation between the top and bottom halves of the case otherwise you just end up with hotter than norm graphics cards ...... give the real BTX that silverstone uses in their RV02 FT02 type cases that atleast works very well to keep heat moving up and away from components

it's the crazy Intel BTX form factor works well if there is some form of separation between the top and bottom halves of the case otherwise you just end up with hotter than norm graphics cards ...... give the real BTX that silverstone uses in their RV02 FT02 type cases that atleast works very well to keep heat moving up and away from components

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This case runs real cool in this configuration. It has 2x120mm fans in the front and fully opened and vented in the rear which pushes any heat straight out through the back.

I ran it for over 2 weeks crunching for WCG 24/7 and it ran cool and quiet the whole time. Silverstone makes some nice cases don't they

That Noctua D-12 is a freakin huge cooler and works like a charm....but man is it ugly!!! Excellent cooler for a very nice test setup though. That Sapphire looks sooo sexy too..only makes me want mine sooner!

I considered the N-12 for my next build but opted for the louder yet more aesthetically pleasing (not to mention better clearance for RAM heat spreaders) CPNS9900 Max Red LED. Going for 2 HD 7970's (Sapphire just like the one you're got) on a Asus ROG board with the HAF 932 Advanced case. Should look awesome.

Here are the box contents, there was also a poster included but it was too big for this picture

Out with the old, in with the new:

The cards installed in my rig:

All lighted up and ready to go, had to do a small modification to the VGA air duct to fit the new PCI-E connectors, nothing my trusty dremel couldn't handle

Skyrim at 5760x1080 with 3D vision surround, right off the bat I can tell the game runs much smoother and any micro stutter from my previous setup with the 580s is completely gone, running at Ultra settings, 120Hz 3D, 16x AF, 2x FSAA and FXAA enabled through the control panel:

I hope you guys liked it, I'm waiting for more availability for the 680 to get a 3rd card in the near future

EDIT: Special thanks to jhonnyfiive, I could've not got my cards without his help! Thank you mate, I owe you one

Skyrim at 5760x1080 with 3D vision surround, right off the bat I can tell the game runs much smoother and any micro stutter from my previous setup with the 580s is completely gone, running at Ultra settings, 120Hz 3D, 16x AF, 4x FSAA and FXAA enabled through the control panel:

Skyrim at 5760x1080 with 3D vision surround, right off the bat I can tell the game runs much smoother and any micro stutter from my previous setup with the 580s is completely gone, running at Ultra settings, 120Hz 3D, 16x AF, 4x FSAA and FXAA enabled through the control panel:

Know what, I almost purchased a couple 7970s a couple of months ago, it's a very fast card and trades punches with my cards at the resolution I play, the only problem is my monitors aren't supported by the 7970 for 3D unless I use HDMI, then I would have to run at 24Hz due to 1.4 spec limitations